Grace SooHoo – Inventor of the “Period Undie”
The jumpstart of small business Simple Necessit-Ease, Inc. and its signature “Period Undie” came through a rainbow. This rainbow is Tyler, the son of Simple Necessit-Ease, Inc.’s Founder and CEO Grace SooHoo. He passed away August 26, 2005 after a fight with brain cancer; he was only six years old. Devastated, SooHoo threw herself into raising her two daughters. Within days of Tyler’s death school was to start. She gave a proper send off to her youngest daughter who was attending her first day of kindergarten. After the bus drove away with the girls, Grace finally broke down and thought Tyler should have been with them on that yellow school bus, but he wasn’t. To help keep herself occupied, SooHoo decided to take a look at her company’s website, which had not been looked at since March 2004. Grace sat there stunned and in disbelief. The first order ever for a “period undie” was recently made by a mother with an autistic daughter. “At that moment my joke with Tyler had become a reality. I used to joke with him saying, “Yes Ty, you’re going to run mommy’s underwear company,’ and my silly clown would run off. I honestly felt like he sent me the order to go on and to keep me sane.” 2007 has been very positive for “The Period Undie” as sales and interests have steadily increased, which means more contributions to Tyler’s Magical Rainbow Foundation. “Portion of sales are donated to the foundation for brain tumor research to spare other families and children from what our Tyler had to endure.” Learn more about how Tyler’s Magical Rainbow Foundation and “The Period Undie” are making a difference in people’s lives.
ASIANCE: What is your ethnicity and where were you born and raised?
Grace: I am Korean-American born in Argentina and raised in the United States.
ASIANCE: Where did you attend college and what was your degree?
Grace: I have a Bachelor’s in communications from St. John’s University.
ASIANCE: You attended your first tradeshow, the Lingerie-Americas Show in New York City, one of the largest trade shows for the intimate market. Can you share the experience and what were the attendees’ reactions to “The Period Undie” and the new market category “menstrualwear”?
Grace: Our goal was to present the Simple Necessit-Ease “Period Undie” as Menstrualwear, a category in the intimate apparel market that has been lacking. The product categories at the show are sleepwear, loungewear, underwear, foundations, shapewear and now menstrualwear! The terminology caught everyone’s attention and caused some excitement. There were some strange looks as people initially thought it was plastic underwear or one with a built in sanitary pad. Once we showed them and told them to touch it and feel it, they were amazed and thought “The Period Undie” was a great idea. The overwhelming response from older women was, “Why didn’t they have this when I was younger?” Interestingly enough they did in Asia, but we refined it to meet the styles and fit of today’s active woman.
ASIANCE: What initially inspired you to create “The Period Undie”?
Grace: The inspiration behind my product was after an accident I had while in school as a 12 year old. Unfortunately it wasn’t something I could talk to my mother about who was quite a conservative Korean woman; therefore menstruation was considered a private matter and wasn’t discussed. Then during college, I was sitting around with some girlfriends swapping stories of period mishaps and everyone had a story. When mentioning how great it would be if there could be underwear to protect you during menstruation, everyone agreed. There weren’t any in the U.S. market at the time, but I was told something similar existed in Japan and Korea. Through research it did not meet our standards as it was an umbrella type material sewn onto the underwear fabric, which didn’t seem to be comfortable. During the early to mid nineties I began testing laminating companies here in the US, while pursuing a patent, and finally found a company to make our first prototype.
ASIANCE: What advice do you have for Asian American women who are busy raising a family or still working, but still want to pursue their dream.
Grace: The advice I give to Asian American women is to pursue their dream. That is why our parents (and ancestors) brought us here to the US. It’s hard to juggle kids, home and a career, but with determination and organization we can do it. Careers for working moms have become accessible with today’s technology. When I first started Simple Necessit-Ease, all the research was done manually, now I feel like the world is at my feet with the Internet. It’s rewarding and the kids love to get involved when they can. Mommy, PTA president and CEO, all of it is possible with the right support.
ASIANCE: What has the been most challenging part about starting your own business?
Grace: The most challenging part of starting your own business while still at home is getting a good stretch of quiet time. Finances for my product patents and legal advice were costly and became a major obstacle especially with not taking out a business loan and raising children all at the same time. Of course time management is crucial.
ASIANCE: Can you share how Tyler’s Magical Rainbow Foundation come about and what initiative(s) it is taking part in?
Grace: Tyler’s Magical Rainbow Foundation is the perfect way to show the world how blessed we were to at least receive signs from our son that he is ok. In 2006, I did try to continue with the company, but I needed to be there for our girls, Jessica and Megan, because when Tyler was sick they literally grew up for their brother. Throughout the year, when there were some really bad and tough days we would look up into the sky and see a little rainbow. The first time, Jessica was the one to spot it and said there was Tyler. I had never seen one, so we thought it was amazing and agreed. Another time our families insisted we go to the Bahamas, but we could not imagine going on a vacation without Tyler. However, we did with reluctance. As the girls played in the pool, I sat there with my husband thinking the last time we were there was with Tyler. We looked up and that little Rainbow was up there and we both smiled. This gave us the strength to continue with the trip and actually have fun. Soon after we were also blessed with news that we were expecting. Our daughters said the baby was a gift from Tyler. The rest of the year was spent on the girls and having a baby. Orders would trickle in here and there and what little portions we made always went to pediatric brain tumor research.
Now in 2007, I was particularly sad that we could not contribute more to the foundation and the community. We will always fear our other children are at risk and unfortunately we keep hearing more and more about friends and their friends having a child diagnosed with brain tumors. It’s incredibly frustrating to not know what is causing our kids to get sick out of nowhere. We really wanted to focus on helping families during tough times as our family, friends and community inundated us with kindness and support. We hope to cast a rainbow over their lives as Tyler did ours, hence the name, Tyler’s Magical Rainbow. On a local level Tyler’s Magical Rainbow will hopefully clear land for a Rescue Mission in our town. They need the land cleared so they can provide a safe haven for poverty stricken kids to play.
We feel 2008 will be the year to take Simple Necessit-Ease’s “The Period Undie” and Tyler’s Magical Rainbow to the next level and see his memory lives on.
ASIANCE: What is the focus for you and Simple Necessit-Ease, Inc. the upcoming year?
Grace: The focus on Simple Necessit-Ease is to make “The Period Undie” a part of every woman’s wardrobe. It’s a common, yet unnecessary problem. The intimate apparel industry has had a revolution in each of the product categories and now is the time for menstrualwear. This past year our sales have mainly come from online/web searches women do, however our presence in boutique stores are growing steadily as well. We are in Texas, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Long Island, North Carolina, New York, Canada and even in the Netherlands! We are working on making additional styles to accommodate all the different body types and some fun colors and fabrics. Who said having a period had to be a drag!
Finally! A product that I’ve needed forever makes its debut. I am thrilled someone else thought about it and actually did something about it. The inventor sounds like a great person-kids, a patent, juggling mommy work and a business. Kudos to her.
How can one make a donation to Tyler’s Magical Rainbow Foundation?
You can make a donation to Tyler’s Magical Rainbow Foundation by sending a check to Tyler’s Magical Rainbow Foundation, 30 Jericho Turnpike #311, Commack, NY 11725.